I'm pretty cautious about the coronavirus, and I still wear a mask at the gym (which we weren't required to do for several months, though I guess that is coming back). But I don't like being forced to do anything, especially when there is so much voluntary compliance.
That's why I enjoyed the spectacle of Republican staffers having "beer" pong in the hallway of their Capitol offices, openly defying Nancy Pelosi's mask mandate, which came with the threat of arrest. I think people should wear masks in such settings, purely as a form of risk management, but it's not strictly necessary if everyone is vaccinated, and also -- there are some risks worth taking for liberty. She's a tyrant.
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
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This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...